Starting with a coloured background is a fun and interesting way to create cards. For the best effect, coloured pencils are my go to medium since the pigment sits on the surface of the paper, but you could opt for acrylic paints or oxide inks if you prefer.
1. Start by stamping and embossing an image and sentiment onto coloured cardstock, then choose a couple of lighter, but coordinating pencil shades. I used gold embossing powder on a deep jade colour.
2. To help the other colours pop, and to create lots of lovely contrast, add a light layer of white pencil to the entire image. We're colouring purely for decorative effect, so don't worry about highlights and shadows with this particular tutorial.
3. I want the centre of my flowers to be white, so I'm adding another layer of white near the base of each petal. To help blend the colours together, "flick" the pencil from the centre out toward the edge of the petal. Don't try to create straight lines between the different coloured pencils as that makes blending more difficult.
4. Add a mid tone to the centre of each petal, blending with the white.
5. Add your darkest colour at the edges, flicking the colour from the edge back toward the centre.
6. If desired, strengthen the white a little more.
7. To colour the leaves, I'm adding my darkest colour at the base of each, the mid-colour in the centre and then white at the very tip. Blend the pencils together by adding light layers of colour rather than one heavy application.
8. Adding a shadow will help "lift" the image from the background creating the illusion of depth. This can be done with your coloured pencils, but I prefer to use markers in various shades of grey. The darkest grey will be closest to the image and then I'll blend the tones outward to soften the edges of the shadow.
9. To create a convincing shadow, only add colour to two of the four sides (top, bottom, left and right). I chose the bottom and right-hand side. I also added a very thin, single line of shadow to my sentiment.
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